Business

New Orleans brewery to change beer's name to settle case filed by company that owns Godzilla

The Canadian Press -
Jun 5, 2014 / 10:10 am | Story:
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Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

FILE - In this Nov. 29, 2004 file photo, the Godzilla character celebrates its 50th anniversary with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next to the Grauman's Chinese Theatre, now named TCL Chinese Theatre, along Hollywood Boulevard, in Los Angeles. Toho Co. Ltd. and the New Orleans Lager & Ale Brewing Co. settled a lawsuit on Wednesday, June 4, 2014, over the brewery's Mechahopzilla beer. The brewery has agreed to change the beer's name, which is similar to the name of Godzilla's mechanical doppelganger Mechagodzilla. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, file)

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - A New Orleans brewery has agreed to change the name of one of its beers after it was sued by the company that owns the rights to the movie monster Godzilla.

Attorneys for Toho Co. Ltd. announced Wednesday that it had settled a trademark infringement lawsuit with the New Orleans Lager & Ale Brewing Co.

The deal requires the brewery to change the name of its Mechahopzilla beer by the end of the year.

Chad Grand, an attorney for the brewery, said it would shorten the name to Mecha and continue to use a lizard-like creature to market it.

Toho will have to approve the changes, company attorney Chuck Shephard said.

Toho sued the brewery in September, claiming the name and logo of the beer were copycats of Godzilla's mechanical doppelganger, Mechagodzilla, which has appeared in five films since its debut in 1974.

The brewery's attorneys argued the beer was a parody. The case filed in a New Orleans federal court was settled before a judge ruled on its merits.

Toho has filed more than 30 lawsuits since 1991 over unauthorized uses of Godzilla and related characters.